Problems are sometimes experienced with printed circuit card panels that are made of thin material, or those that have extensive routing patterns or large cutouts. These panels may sag, bow, or warp during assembly due to the heat of automated soldering methods such as wave soldering or vapor phase reflow.
When extra mechanical stiffness or support is needed after assembly as well, standard card stiffeners are riveted to the card and become a permanent part of the assembly. In cases, however, requiring only temporary extra stiffness, such as when a large panel will be cut or routed into several smaller cards after assembly, or to prevent a thin panel from warping in the solder wave, a riveted-on stiffener must either be left on as a now unnecessary part of the assembly or, to reuse it, be removed by drilling out the rivets. Stiffeners attached with screws also require extra work to remove.
Removable card edge stiffeners can be used to provide temporary support but they can only be used on the leading or trailing edges of the card. In a large panel, the center of the panel may also require support.
Therefore it is the objective of the present invention to provide a removable snap-on card stiffener that can be snapped onto a card panel and provide extra stiffness in the interior of the panel or wherever it is needed. After use, it call easily be removed and reused on other panels.